Steve Vanechanos wrote: Yes, but there are always more questions. ;-) What do you intend to put at each sound "destination"? (E.g., in the study do you expect to put: * speakers only (well, plus some (source) switching / volume control mechanism--the speakers driven by a bank of amplifiers near the sound source), * speakers (as first option) plus amplifiers (which is very little difference from the first option) * speakers plus amplifiers plus something like a PC (or some dedicated similar Ethernet device which can connect to the Ethernet and receive and interpret a stream of Ethernet packets representing the sound (either as .wav or .mpg (or similar)) ?? My quick off the top of my head calculations say that Cat 5 (assuming Cat 5 can do 100 Mbps Ethernet should be good (or does 100 Mbps take Cat 6?) (for the third option, which is what I'd prefer for various reasons--among them, I'm leery of getting good audio through fairly long runs of speaker wire without significant loss of bandwidth at one end or the other of the 20-20,000 Hz. spectrum.) (With that third option I'd also have (easier/better) "local" control of volume, tone, equalization, etc.) Anyway, I'm quite sure it's doable with 100 Mbps Ethernet, probably marginably doable with 10 Mbps Ethernet (use .mpgs primarily). Now, as to "if the present state of the Intel/AMD powered PC with Linux is robust enough to control multiple sources (4, 6 or 8) like digital cable box, directv receiver, XM radio, CD player(s), etc. and route the output to multiple zones/rooms (4, 6 or 8) in an effective and cost efficient manner." (And your use of the word "control" is (to me) ambiguous which is why I asked the three questions up above.) To answer your question: * I don't know for sure, but I would hope and believe that the technical pieces are all available in the Intel/AMD/Linux world. * I don't know how much money you have, how much technical interest you have (i.e., in learning and doing things yourself), what you get for your $10,000 from Crestron, and how much of a hurry you're in. Assuming you go with option 3, you'll need a computer in (or near, i.e., you might not put one outside at your patio/pool) each sound "destination", and presumably a more powerful server at some central location. (I'm ignoring some things.) Till you buy those, amplifiers, ..., and invest some time in learning / configuring those computers (and how much you value your time vs. how much of your time investment you will consider "recovered" based on the knowledge you gain), $10,000 may be a bargain or at least a reasonable price for the value received. I'd never spend $10,000 on a home audio system. If building a house (which I did once) I'd try to put in all the cables I could reasonably imagine that I'd want someday (so I'd look seriously at Cat 6 vs. Cat 5, and seriously consider fiber as well (I have no idea of current costs, but I suspect that's what I'd want for a similar video system, especially considering HDTV, and to avoid quality loss in compression schemes), but I'm sure it's cheaper than it used to be. ;-) Then I'd gradually install my desired audio system, as I learned enough / found the pieces to assemble a system (like you describe) over time at reasonable cost. Good luck! I (and probably others on this list) will be interested to hear what approach you take, and how things evolve over time (especially if you don't buy a Crestron like system). Randy Kramer